My conservative and aggressive "core" index fund
portfolios from Vanguard continue to shine brightly!
(or use optional Fidelity or ETFs equivalents) ==> Read "Taking
the
Bull by the horns: Local investor quintuples portfolio" <== A few,
minor errors in the article are corrected here.email me a polite note
with your full name and a street address by clicking
on the "mail-vette" and I will send a sample
newsletter to you for FREE!!
Please tell me a bit about yourself too

I'd appreciate it also
if you could tell me where you learned of my
work. Make sure you
check your bulk email folder because the pdf attachments
sometimes cause my sample to get
flagged as bulk email.

If clicking the Corvette going into
the mailbox doesn't load a mailing window for you,
then use this email address:

KirkLindstrom(REMOVE)@ix.netcom.com

To
make sure you keep getting my charts and other FREE
stuff sent via email, make sure I am on your "Allowed Senders"
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and junk email folders.

Core and Explore:
I recommend a
"core" portfolio for about 80 to 95% of your
funds and an "explore" portfolio made of
stocks from my newsletter portfolio for the
remainder. My newsletter stocks are
volatile by design to add to overall returns,
but you need a good core portfolio to sleep
well at night. I offer different core
portfolios for aggressive & conservative
investors. My
newsletter portfolios are ALL significantly
ahead of where they started 2000 at which I
feel is quite an accomplishment given how well
I did in 1998 and 1999.

For most
investors in the accumulation
phase, I recommend a total
investment portfolio mix with perhaps 80% in
my recommended Aggressive Core portfolio with the remaining
20% of your portfolio in my higher risk (more
volatile) "Explore Portfolio."

For most
investors in the retirement
phase, I recommend a total
investment portfolio mix with perhaps 90% to
100% in my recommended Conservative Core portfolio with the remaining
zero to 10% of your portfolio in my higher risk
(more volatile) "Explore
Portfolio."

Annual
Returns
By Year - Total and Annualized Returns [1]

Year

VFINX Vanguard S&P500 Index Fund

Kirk's
Recommended

80%Core
Aggressive + 20% Explore

95% Core
Conservative + 5% Explore

BRKA Wareren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway Fund

ConservativeCore Portfolio

Aggressive
Core Portfolio

Explore
Portfolio

Partial
1998

20.9%

56.8%

1999

21.1%

12.84%

21.0%

117.0%

40.2%

18.0%

(19.9%)

2000

(9.1%)

0.5%

(6.0%)

(11.5%)

(7.1%)

(0.1%)

26.6%

2001

(12.0%)

(1.2%)

(7.0%)

1.3%

(5.4%)

(1.1%)

6.5%

2002

(22.2%)

(5.1%)

(13.1%)

(21.2%)

(14.7%)

(5.9%)

(3.8%)

2003

28.5%

19.1%

28.2%

76.7%

37.9%

22.0%

15.8%

2004

10.7%

9.6%

12.9%

(4.2%)

9.4%

8.9%

5.9%

2005

4.8%

5.6%

7.4%

13.2%

8.6%

5.9%

(0.7%)

2006

15.6%

11.0%

15.0%

12.6%

14.5%

11.1%

23.3%

2007

5.4%

6.5%

6.3%

(10.3%)

3.0%

5.7%

28.7%

2008

(36.4%)

(17.1%)

(29.9%)

(34.6%)

(30.8%)

(18.0%)

(31.8%)

2009

26.5%

18.4%

26.2%

33.5%

27.6%

19.1%

2.7%

2010

14.91%

8.93%

14.25%

20.4%

15.5%

9.5%

21.42%

2011

1.97%

0.07%

(0.87%)

(3.92%)

(1.48%)

(0.13%)

(4.73%)

2012

15.8%

8.8%

13.6%

7.1%

12.3%

8.7%

16.8%

2013

32.2%

14.9%

26.3%

23.6%

25.8%

15.4%

32.7%

2014

13.5%**

5.8%

8.7%

7.6%

8.5%

5.9%

27%

Total
Return since 1/1/1999

124%

145%

173%

327%

213%

158%

221%

Average
Annual Return

5.2%

5.8%

6.5%

9.5%

7.4%

6.1%

7.7%

Avg. % in Stocks

100%

50%

80%

70%

78%

51%

70%

**
The lower cost "Admiral Shares" version of this fund from Vanguard was
the largest mutual fund holding for BOTH of my core portfolios in 2014.

[1]The performance
data featured represents past performance,
which is no guarantee of future results.
Investment return and principal value of an
investment will fluctuate; therefore, you may
have a gain or loss when you sell your shares.
Current performance may be higher or lower
than the performance data quoted.

Don't miss out on my next
"buy more of Stock X" email or my "Take profits NOW"
email ==>Subscribe
NOW!New Record Highs for ALL Portfolios!

The table below show my results vs the
S&P500 by year back to 12/31/1998. Why are
other newsletters afraid to show you this
data? Obvious answer is they are ashamed of
their results and/or have something to hide.

Kirk
Lindstrom's Portfolio growth starting
with $156,820

80%Core Aggressive + 20% Explore

95%
Core Conservative
+ 5% Explore

FullYear

Portfolio Value as
of

ConservativeCore Portfolio

Aggressive
Core Portfolio

Explore Portfolio

100%
in VFINX(S&P500)

1

12/31/1998

$156,820

$156,820

$156,820

$156,820

$156,820

$156,820

2

12/31/1999

$176,960

$189,760

$340,221

$189,862

$219,852

$185,123

3

12/31/2000

$177,923

$178,443

$301,245

$172,661

$204,325

$185,019

4

12/31/2001

$175,728

$165,896

$305,132

$151,907

$193,359

$182,971

5

12/31/2002

$166,776

$144,151

$240,443

$118,259

$164,885

$172,176

6

12/31/2003

$198,694

$184,859

$424,949

$151,963

$227,440

$210,086

7

12/31/2004

$217,823

$208,631

$407,035

$168,284

$248,921

$228,857

8

12/31/2005

$229,922

$224,169

$460,719

$176,311

$270,324

$242,445

9

12/31/2006

$255,183

$257,872

$518,631

$203,886

$309,634

$269,273

10

12/31/2007

$271,862

$274,132

$465,249

$214,876

$318,879

$284,607

11

12/31/2008

$225,286

$192,180

$304,500

$136,618

$220,580

$233,370

12

12/31/2009

$266,679

$242,437

$406,441

$172,808

$281,497

$278,010

13

12/31/2010

$290,496

$276,993

$489,492

$198,574

$325,100

$304,438

14

12/31/2011

$290,708

$274,597

$470,378

$189,185

$320,311

$304,055

15

12/31/2012

$316,165

$311,934

$503,607

$234,519

$359,679

$330,423

16

12/31/2013

$363,413

$394,041

$622,227

$309,987

$452,363

$381,224

17

12/31/2014

$384.559

$428,480

$669,428

$392,849

$490.855

$403,743

Total Return
since 1/1/1999

145.2%

173.2%

326.9%

124.4%

213.0%

157.5%

Average
Annual Return

5.8%

6.5%

9.5%

5.2%

7.4%

6.1%

Avg. % in Stocks

50%

80%

70%

100%

78%

51%

==>Keys:

All my portfolios use
the significant amount in cash to buy when the markets are down and take
profits when the markets are up for significant added return over
buy-and-hold of the S&P500 index fund.

Exceptional stock picking in my explore portfolio has
allowed significant out-performance over the long-term while the cash
offers protection during the unexpected downturns that you do not get
with 100% in stocks.

==>Bottom
Line: For one of the most difficult periods in investing history, my newsletter
explore portfolio shined!

My Explore portfolio inception was 9/30/98 with
$100,000 but it was not widely circulated until late
December 1998 so I start "documented returns" from the
start of 1999. My average annual returns would
be even better vs the competition if I added the 56.8% from 1998.

The returns for "80% Core Aggressive + 20% Explore" and
"95% Core Conservative + 5% Explore" assume annual rebalancing between
core and explore weightings every year on January 1.

Testimonials
about Kirk's Investment Newsletter

Steve Thompson: "If
my better than average returns continue I’ll be
able to retire at a higher standard of living
and sooner than I originally thought. Kirk’s
newsletter for me has been a true life changing
event."

David Gratson:
"Kirk's understanding of investing, and in
particular the technology of which he
recommends, is excellent. He understands how the
small investor needs to be wary of headline
information, and he does his homework to value
companies and decide when to buy or sell. I have
also learned a lot about fixed income (bonds
etc) investing from Kirk's newsletter, and that
understanding is particularly important as I
age. I think you would find Kirk's newsletter a
great complement to your investment process and
I highly recommend subscribing to his
newsletter.”

Steve, David and
many others have volunteered to personally vouch for me. Just ask
and I will put you in contact with them via email or telephone to verify
my results are real.

My "Newsletter Explore
Portfolio" is designed for those who wish to
add an aggressive growth component to their
diversified "core and explore" investment portfolio.
My
newsletter stands on its own as a great value even
if you don't want to buy individual stocks and
want to stick with my core portfolios.Besides great
results, I provide personal individualized
response to all of my subscribers. Every
e-mail you send me, you will get a response, no
exceptions. That is perhaps the most rewarding
part of my service and I am proud that I've made
friends with a great many of my long time
subscribers. I truly believe in customer
service and making my subscribers feel they are
getting their money's worth. The truth is I love
helping people learn to make money!

Don't miss out on my
next "buy more of Stock X" email or my "Take profits
NOW" email ==>subscribe
NOW!Too good to be true?
I DOCUMENT every buy and sell I've made in
my newsletter since it started, including
commissions. I update this buy and sell list
for subscribers every month so all my dirty
laundry (bad picks) are never hidden. This
is a real, documented record that I invite you to
verify after you subscribe and have my list of ALL
buys and sells since inception on an Excel
spreadsheet backed up with Quicken to verify my
math. If you find I have made a major return
error, say 1% or more on any year but not something
like forgetting to credit my portfolio with a
dividend, then I'll happily refund all your money
plus give you $100 for finding the error AND let
you have the subscription for free for a
year. I believe my accuracy is far better
than 0.1% so I feel safe making this offer.

A subscription
to "Kirk's Online Newsletter" is only $150 a
year (if you pay by check)(A savings of $150 over my
old $25 per issue price!!!)

Compare other
newsletters to my results

Did
your current investment newsletter tell you to
raise cash by taking profits near the market top in
2007?

Mine did! I took
profits to increase the cash position of my most
aggressive "explore portfolio" to 30%.

Did your current investment
newsletter tell you to use cash raised from when
the markets were near their highs to buy a speculative,
very high growth telecom growth stock when the markets
were at their lowest levels in 13 years and that telecom
stock was making an all time low?

Mine did! I had
cash in the portfolio and told my subscribers to use
it to buy some some Finisar (FNSR
Charts) shares at $0.24.

Finisar had
a 1:8 reverse split so the split adjusted buy price is
$1.92. See what it is today FNSR
Charts

More about my
investment letter:

It
has
multiple stocks to take advantage of electronics
manufacturing in China, solar energy, natural gas and
the green house gas reduction move to
electric automobiles.

I took extensive
profits in my technology stocks in the
Spring/Summer of 2000 and bought Banks, GNMAs and
Strip Zero bonds with the profit taking
dollars. I also hold significant cash
reserves. The strip zero bonds returned over
50% and the financial stocks did over 20% while
the tech stocks crashed! This allowed me to
keep many of my gains in the bear market then
reapply the cash when the market was low in 2002
and 2003.

I always have a risky stock or two for a few
percent of the portfolio for those that like to swing for
the fences. They often go down 50% or more before going higher (or going
lower) so I move money into these in steps at
buying points that I share in the newsletter and I
often take profits quickly should we get a huge
bounce.

For example:
WCOM was one stock in my portfolio that I lost
money going down in the 2000/2002 bear marekt but
I bought 5,000 shares at 7˘ and quickly sold
1,500 shares at 25˘ on a bounce so I'd
lock in breaking even on that trade since the
bounce happened in a day. Eventually I sold
those remaining WCOM shares at 21˘ and moved
on. WCOM hurt my performance in 2002 but I
still managed to beat the S&P500 even with
that bad stock pick. In my newsletter, I
explain what I learned from bad picks and
how to move forward. Even losses can be a
learning experience if handled honestly. I
publish a list monthly of all stocks I've owned
and what I learned from the losers.

I use mutual funds
and cash to reduce risk and take profits when
appropriate which I explain in the
newsletter. I also give BUY, SELL and "Take
Profits" target prices for stocks I am looking at.

To match my
newsletter stock portfolio performance, subscribers
would have to buy exactly what I hold going forward
but most just use my ideas and incorporate my methods
into their individual portfolios. Of course,
they won't get the exact same results I list.

Some say I can not
get great results like I have done without taking
disproportionate levels of risk. My portfolio beta
(currently about 1.0) is much less than that of
QQQQ yet my results are far, far better. I
hope I proved them wrong and my results say I am
doing a good job of it!

I have a fairly
diverse list of companies from many industries
(semiconductor capital equipment, biotechnology,
telecommunication, banking, shipping and energy
exploration). When the Nasdaq was going to the
moon in 1999 and 2000, I didn't add net money to
technology but took profits and put them into
beaten down areas like banks, bonds and a strip zero
coupon fund that I took profits in just after the
9/11 attack for a 50% gain! This taking
profits and moving the money to beaten down areas is
a proven strategy to reduce risk while still getting
good gains. I still hit my share of duds (that
is part of investing - all honest advisors have
losers) but the overall results are what count and
those results have been fantastic (if I may humbly
say so).

Kirk Lindstrom (me) - a GARP
or "Growth At a Reasonable Price"
investor "who made a fortune in the market" and is now
teaching others my techniques via my newsletter.
Any changes to my portfolio or my thinking goes out to
subscribers between issues via email so they are kept up
to date.

I wrote for 10 years at "Investing - Personal
Finance" at Suite101.com where you can read the most
recent articles here.

More: I
Graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Electrical
Engineering and computer science in 1979. I went
straight to Hewlett Packard to work in the R&D lab
of the Optical Communication Division (Now a division of
Agilent) and and spent 20 years designing Optical
Transceivers and leading design teams. I like both
so I did both. I was not pleased with market
timers and mutual funds that I owned that sold out at
the bottom after the 1987 correction so I taught myself
how to invest. I did well and made roughly 30%
compounded between 1992 and 1998 in my personal account.

More
(cont) After 20 years, I semi retired from HP and
now work for myself while helping and teaching
others. Even after the great Bear markets of
2000/2002 and 2007/2009, my personal portfolio is
beating the S&P500 by a wide margin and ended 2010
at an all time high. This is a portfolio that
funded my lifestyle for a decade while I built my
online writing business. (It is very hard to
give accurate return numbers since I now spend some of
the gains my portfolio generates.) I am
even prouder of my newsletter portfolio.

I still do some engineering. I ended
2010 with agreements to help design one new
product for the health care industry and market another
for the home improvement industry. In the
early 2000s, I consulted for a local investment firm
as a part time stock analyst. I may even go back to
work for someone else someday if the stock prices get
low enough to tempt me for the stock options and I
find something really interesting to do. With my
asset level, it is nice to be able to work when and
where I want to and not be forced to take a job just
to put food on the table and pay my expensive Los
Altos, California lifestyle.

Don't Miss Out!

Unlike Other Newsletters,
I discuss many stocks in every issue and usually make
one or more buys each month so new readers are current
on at least one stock that is a good deal. I send
out email alerts when I change my thinking and I send
out emails on the same day I make a buy or sell so
others can follow the next day, or even that day if
there is enough time.

Don't miss out on my next
"buy more of Stock X" email or my "Take profits NOW"
email ==>subscribe
NOW!

A subscription
to "Kirk's Online Newsletter" is $155 a year.($150 if you
pay by check)

Higher
returns
from
the stock market are had at a price of higher
volatility. I like to think my stock selection can
help you beat the "safe and sane" method of index
investing. My advice is to use my newsletter stock
portfolio for the "explore" part of your "Core and
explore" portfolio rather than a managed aggressive
growth mutual fund.

best regards
Kirk Lindstrom
Editor of "Kirk's Investment Newsletter"New Articles - Charts - Subscribe
Older Articles: Article Archives @ "Kirk's
Market Thoughts" and Seeking AlphaDISCLAIMER: The information
contained in this newsletter is not intended to
constitute financial advice, and is not a
recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell or
hold any security. This newsletter is strictly
informational and educational and is not to be
construed as any kind of financial advice,
investment advice or legal advice. Copyright Kirk
Lindstrom 1998-2014.

Remember that
the past is no guarantee of the future but my past
results have been excellent. I hope to continue
to outperform but make no promises. I currently
(12/20/13) own positions in ALL of the securities in the
portfolio but I have no investment banking
relationship with any of the companies.
Note: "CORE & Explore®" was coined by and is a
registered trademark of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
(they protect the trademark and I can use it as long as
I post this note)

Refund Policy: Use
PayPal
to
pay $155 and if after two issues you don't like
it, then I'll refund you $100 so your risk is $50 plus
the $5 fee PayPal charges for credit cards. If
that is too much to risk for good advice, then you
probably should stick to the simple, FREE portfolio I
recommend which is 120 less your age in a total stock
market index fund at Vanguard (VTSMX)
or
Fidelity, then the balance in a total bond fund (like
VBMFX) with the lowest
expense ratio. In my newsletter,
I offer a suggested alternative fixed income portfolio
for the fixed income side of your asset allocation
that allows for more "rebalancing gains" as well as
takes advantage of some bond market timing for special
occasions.Note:
One Refund Per Lifetime.